Thursday, 6 October 2011

The Last Exorcism Poster Deconstruction

The background of the poster, as accessed here, shows the location to be a building, although the blank walls and flooring could suggest that the building isabandonedor in disrepair, already creating a slightly tense tone and hinting at isolation from the normal world. The blank location contrasts with the stark figure in the center of the image, showing her significance to the plot and also suggesting the power of her character. The figure is in an unnatural positionwhich immediately suggests some kind of supernatural element to the movie. Her dress is also covered in blood, hinting at some form of violence and clearly showing the movie to be of the horror genre. Due to the lack of other colour on the poster, the redstands outon the dress and in the title text, showing the colour ofblood or danger to be an important theme within the movie narrative. The figure's positioning makes the audience unsurewhether to feel pity or fear for her, as her isolation on the image suggests that she is integral to the narrative but it is not revealed in which way. She could be either a protagonist or an antagonist.The figure is in a similar costume to 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' of a pale dresswithdark hair, clearly showing that this is a theme linked with the genre of possessive horrors. This costuming could suggest aloss or corruption of innocence. The figure's face ispaleand seemsdistorted and unnatural, reflecting her possible possession and the evil that is suggested to be involved. The shadow behind the girl is large and very dark, perhaps suggesting apredatory force or hinting at the possessive spirit. It also acts to make her seem darker and create anominous tone, emphasising fear.The tagline 'Believe in him' is shown, although it is unclear to whom it is referring. It could be referring to the Devil, due to theunnatural and blunt imagebelow, but could equally be referring to God due to the crucifix that is on the wall above the girl. This tagline, and therefore the theme of the entire movie, is playing on the fear of religious punishmentthat many people have, bringing in audiences as they want to see what happens and which entity is being referred to. The blunt sentence suggests that there will be proof in the movie, or it is in the audience'sbest intereststo do as they say.Above the title, theproducer of the filmand themain productioncompany are mentioned. Below the title, thewritersanddirectorare also mentioned. These pull in audiences that enjoy their previous work. The title and names are indark red, standing out with the blood on the dress against the background to suggest that it is prominant within the movie. The text is alsocapitalised, as the text often is on other movie posters, suggesting theharshandseriouscontent of the movie. There is also other information such as thewebsite addressand theother production teams involved in the movie, in small font at the bottom of the poster. The font isslightly decorative, and appears a little smudged as though by spots of blood, continuing the suggested theme ofviolence and pain.The words 'Last' and 'Exorcism' are large, showing their importance.